Even if Illinois fans didn't buy into the Texas Bowl -- estimates are the athletic department will sell about 6,000 of its allotment of 12,000 tickets -- the Illini are having a good time back in bowl season. It's not the Rose Bowl, where the Illini spent a week shuffling between practices and side trips to Disneyland, Lawry's Beef Bowl and Beverly Hills after the surprising 2007 season, but Illinois seniors appreciate finishing the season in a bowl game.

This trip helped wipe away two frustrating seasons after the school's first Rose Bowl appearance in 24 seasons. McGee played quarterback in the fourth quarter in the Rose Bowl, well after the game was already decided. Illinois won eight games over the last two years, forcing an overhaul in the coaching staff underneath coach Ron Zook.

"If we wouldn't have pulled it out this year, it would have been really bad,'' McGee said. "It would have been terrible. Being here now, it's pushed those couple of years into the past.

"For me personally, not going to be a bowl game after the Rose Bowl really stunk. You get to experience something so great like that, then you're not able to go to a bowl game the next two years. It was tough to get over it.''

McGee planned to ride a mechanical bull during the Illini's trip to the Rodeo Bowl on Tuesday.

"I'm going to tame that monster,'' McGee said.

The monster the team will have to deal with is the atmosphere, but Illinois is prepared for what's coming, Zook said. With a sellout expected, more than 60,000 Baylor fans will turn Reliant Stadium into a Bears home game and a hostile atmosphere. The Baylor campus is 188 miles from the bowl game, and the Bears make their first bowl appearance in 16 years.

"We've been around the globe,'' said Illini senior linebacker Nate Bussey. "Hostility isn't something we're concerned about. We just have to prepare for it and know it's going to happen and withstand the onslaught.''

Illinois played well away from home, leading Missouri and Michigan State at halftime in respectable losses. The Illini rolled past Penn State in Happy Valley, then whipped Northwestern in the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field in Chicago.

Illinois officials aren't concerned about selling all of the ticket allotment. Thanks to the lucrative revenue sharing agreement in the Big Ten, all the conference schools throw the bowl money into a lump sum before dividing it equally to all 11 schools, no matter the bowl assignment or even if there's a bowl berth.

Two BCS bowl slots by Big Ten teams also help pad the bank account. The Illini may donate a portion of their unsold tickets to charity.

The Illini arrived in Houston on Saturday night and set up headquarters at Rice University. The Illini practiced at Rice Sunday and Monday before a walk through at Reliant Stadium on Tuesday. The trip to the Rodeo Bowl was Monday night.

A selected group of players from Illinois and Baylor were scheduled for a trip later Tuesday to the DePelchin Children's Center, Houston’s largest provider of mental health for children, foster care and adoption services.

John Supinie can be reached at Johnsupinie@aol.com.

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